Michigan says MediaSentry lacks necessary PI license

The Michigan state agency charged with licensing private investigators has …

One of the more recent controversies dogging the RIAA's legal campaign against file-sharing is whether MediaSentry (now a division of SafeNet) needs state-issued private investigator licenses to operate lawfully. It's a question that has been raised in several contested RIAA lawsuits, and now the state of Michigan has told the company that it needs a license to operate there.

An anonymous Michigan resident filed a complaint with the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Growth, accusing MediaSentry of operating as an unlicensed private investigator. The state agency confirmed the investigative firm's unlicensed status, but said that it does not pursue complaints "against unlicensed parties" due to difficulties with enforcement.

According to the reply, however, SafeNet has been sent a letter "informing them of the need to be licensed to perform regulated activities." The Department also suggests that the unnamed complainant contact his local prosecutor to pursue the matter, noting that operating as a private investigator without a license can be treated as a felony.

Ars contacted SafeNet to confirm that it had received a letter from the State of Michigan about its investigative activities and also to learn whether the company has applied for private investigator license. A company spokesperson declined to comment, saying that "SafeNet is not at liberty to comment on ongoing litigation." The spokesperson referred us to the RIAA.

Although the RIAA did not respond to our request for comment prior to publication, the recording industry trade group has previously told Ars that it believes that MediaSentry is not an "investigator" as defined by state law. The RIAA spokesperson also noted that company's data is harvested from publicly-available sources.

So far, MediaSentry's investigative activities have come under scrutiny in Massachusetts, New York, and Oregon. In recent months, MediaSentry was given a cease-and-desist order by the Massachusetts State Police for conducting investigations without a license. Several cases filed in New York have also raised the issue, including Lava v. Amurao, where the defendant argues that the evidence collected by MediaSentry should be barred because the company's investigative activities violate state law. Exonerated defendant Tanya Andersen's malicious prosecution lawsuit also accuses MediaSentry of operating illegally in Oregon.

As the controversy rages, SafeNet is trying to downplay its investigative and evidence-gathering activities. A recent site redesign has removed all references to litigation and prosecution. The company told Ars that the redesign was "overdue" and done to "better reflect" its strategy. The timing is curious, however, with all the attention given the private investigator issue as of late.

The stakes are relatively high here. MediaSentry should be easily able to obtain PI licenses in all 50 states, should it so desire. Doing so could be construed as a tacit admission on the part of the company that it should have had licenses all along. And, if it turns out that MediaSentry needed PI licenses all along, the evidence it gathered for the RIAA has a strong likelihood of being deemed inadmissible. It might even open the doors for counterclaims from the thousands of people who have written four-figure checks to make the RIAA go away.

Further reading

Pike & Fischer has a copy of the letter from the Michigan Department of Labor & Economic Growth with the identifying information redacted (PDF)